US bomb kills IS militants
Trump hails the mission as ‘very, very successful’
The US military’s largest non-nuclear bomb killed dozens of Islamic State (IS) militants as it smashed their mountain hideouts, Afghan officials said Friday, ruling out any civilian casualties despite the weapon’s destructive power.
The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb – dubbed the “Mother of All Bombs” – was unleashed in combat for the first time, hitting IS positions in eastern Nangarhar province on Thursday.
The bombing is expected to further erode IS’s capabilities in Afghanistan and sends a warning to the much bigger Taliban group ahead of their spring offensive.
“As a result of the bombing, key Daesh (IS) hideouts were destroyed and 36 IS fighters were killed,” the Afghan defense ministry said, adding that the bombing was carried out in coordination with local military forces.
The huge bomb, delivered via an MC-130 transport plane, has a blast yield equivalent to 11 tons of TNT.
It was originally designed as much to intimidate foes as to clear broad areas.
The explosion reverberated for miles and engulfed the remote area in towering flames, destroying what officials called a network of underground IS tunnels and caves that had been mined against conventional ground attacks.
The bombardment took place amid rising global tensions as the US military steps up raids against global jihadist groups.
It comes only a week after US President Donald Trump ordered missile strikes against Syria in retaliation for a suspected chemical attack and as China warned of the potential for conflict amid rising US tensions with North Korea.
Trump hailed the mission as “very, very successful.”
An Afghan militant source said that local people had described the ground shaking “like an earthquake,” with people being knocked unconscious by the blast.
“People have started leaving the area fearing more bombings.”
Another militant source said that 800 to 1,000 IS fighters were believed to be hiding in the area, which borders Pakistan.
The arsenal was dropped after fighting intensified over the past week and US-backed ground forces struggled to advance on the area.
An American special forces soldier was killed on April 8 in Nangarhar while conducting anti-IS operations.